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10 Upload Mistakes Every New YouTuber Makes | Get Views Now!

0h 16m video Published Dec 4, 2025 Transcribed Aug 5, 2026 A Aksh Verma
Beginner 8 min read For: New and aspiring YouTubers looking to improve their channel's performance and avoid common upload mistakes.
AI Trust Score 65/100
⚠️ Average / Some Fluff

"Delivers on the promise of listing upload mistakes, but padded with repeated subscription prompts and a plug for another video."

AI Summary

The video identifies common mistakes new YouTubers make during video upload that hinder channel growth, offering practical fixes to improve reach and engagement. It emphasizes the importance of metadata, chapters, subtitles, and other settings to signal YouTube's algorithm effectively.

[00:59]
Wrong Video Category

Selecting an incorrect category (e.g., Comedy for a smartphone review) misdirects the video to the wrong audience, reducing clicks and watch time. Fix: choose the right category; use a tool to check the category of viral videos in your niche.

[03:01]
Ignoring Metadata

Title, description, and tags are crucial for YouTube and Google to understand the video's topic. Optimize by using the main keyword in the filename, description, and tags to improve ranking chances.

[04:50]
Not Using Chapters

Chapters (timestamps) serve as SEO signals, helping videos appear in Google search results and improving viewer experience. Write manual, SEO-friendly chapter names, each at least 10 seconds long, and consider using questions in chapter titles.

[07:05]
Skipping Subtitles and SRT Files

Not uploading subtitles limits international reach. With 1.45 billion English-speaking users, adding English subtitles can boost views and earnings. Translate titles and descriptions to reach more countries.

[08:31]
Mismatched Tags

Tags still provide data to YouTube and Google. Avoid broad or mismatched tags; use keyword research tools like VidIQ or TubeBuddy, or YouTube's autocomplete, to find relevant tags.

[09:48]
Incorrect 'Made for Kids' Setting

Enabling 'Made for Kids' restricts video to children only, disabling comments and notifications, and reducing reach. Leaving it blank also hurts reach. Select 'No, it's not made for kids' for general content.

[11:04]
Ignoring Early Engagement

An empty comment section signals low engagement. Immediately pin a comment after publishing to encourage interaction and signal to YouTube that the video is engaging.

[12:20]
Publishing Before Processing

Uploading and publishing immediately shows low-quality, unprocessed video. Schedule uploads 3-6 hours (or 24-48 hours) ahead to allow full processing, ensuring high-quality playback.

[13:24]
Automatic Ad Breaks

For monetized channels, automatic ad placement can interrupt key moments, hurting retention. Manually manage ad slots to place ads at less disruptive points, prioritizing viewer retention.

[14:48]
Not Using Playlists

Playlists increase watch session time by encouraging viewers to watch multiple videos. Add videos to playlists and write descriptions to improve discoverability and retention.

Avoiding these common upload mistakes can significantly improve a video's reach and engagement. By optimizing metadata, using chapters, subtitles, and proper settings, creators can signal quality to YouTube and grow their channel effectively.

Mentioned in this Video

Tutorial Checklist

1 00:59 Select the correct video category that matches your content.
2 03:01 Optimize metadata: use the main keyword in the filename, description, and tags.
3 04:50 Add manual, SEO-friendly chapters with at least 10-second segments.
4 07:05 Upload English subtitles (SRT file) and translate title/description for international reach.
5 08:31 Use keyword research tools (VidIQ/TubeBuddy) to select relevant tags.
6 09:48 Set 'Made for Kids' to 'No' for general content.
7 11:04 Pin a comment immediately after publishing to boost engagement.
8 12:20 Schedule uploads 3-6 hours (or 24-48 hours) ahead to allow processing.
9 13:24 Manually manage ad slots in the Monetization tab for videos over 8 minutes.
10 14:48 Add videos to playlists and write playlist descriptions to increase watch time.

Study Flashcards (10)

What is the impact of selecting the wrong video category?

easy Click to reveal answer

It shows the video to the wrong audience, reducing clicks and watch time.

00:59

What are the three components of metadata mentioned?

easy Click to reveal answer

Title, description, and tags.

03:01

How can you find the correct category for your video?

medium Click to reveal answer

Check the category of a viral video on the same topic using a website that reveals it.

02:07

What is the minimum length for a chapter?

easy Click to reveal answer

At least 10 seconds.

06:13

What is the benefit of using questions in chapter titles?

medium Click to reveal answer

It helps the video rank on Google when people search those questions.

06:39

How many English-speaking users are on YouTube?

easy Click to reveal answer

More than 1.45 billion.

07:05

What happens if you enable 'Made for Kids'?

medium Click to reveal answer

The video is only shown to children, and comments, notifications, and recommendations are disabled.

10:12

Why should you schedule uploads instead of publishing immediately?

medium Click to reveal answer

To allow YouTube to process the video in all resolutions, ensuring high-quality playback.

12:33

What is the downside of automatic ad breaks?

medium Click to reveal answer

Ads can interrupt key moments, causing viewers to leave and hurting retention.

13:39

How do playlists help with watch session time?

medium Click to reveal answer

They encourage viewers to watch multiple videos in a series, increasing overall watch time.

15:01

💡 Key Takeaways

📊

Category Change Boosts Views

Demonstrates the direct impact of category selection on video performance.

01:41
📊

Metadata Ranking Example

Shows a real example of a video ranking on Google due to metadata optimization.

04:22
💡

Subtitles Increase Reach

Quantifies the potential audience gain from adding English subtitles.

07:21
💡

Ad Placement Hurts Retention

Illustrates how automatic ads can cause retention drops, affecting algorithm signals.

13:53
🔧

Playlists as Mini-Series

Encourages a strategic approach to playlists for maximizing watch time.

15:40

[00:02] made the thumbnail catchy, wrote the title perfectly , everything is ready. But as soon as it was uploaded, boom, views zero, engagement zero and the video dead. And you're thinking I did everything right. Still what was the problem? The truth is that

[00:17] you are making the same mistake that everyone else makes. At the time of upload. Because there are some mistakes on YouTube that every new YouTuber makes, which may seem small but they send a very bad signal to YouTube and that is the reason why the

[00:31] views on your video stop and the channel freezes, but if you understand these mistakes now, then your channel will literally boom from the next upload and then the views will not stop but will keep increasing, so do watch the video till the end because these small

[00:46] mistakes decide whether your video will work or will die and yes, the second last mistake is especially for those whose channel has been monetized. So if your channel is monetized or is about to be, then do not miss the second last mistake at all.

[00:59] Now a common mistake that people often make when they start. Selecting the wrong video category. Now you will think that what difference does the category make, but it does make a difference and not a small one, it makes a huge difference. See, YouTube

[01:12] uses the category option to who your video is intended for.

[01:27] you choose the wrong categories point then YouTube will definitely show your video to the wrong people how many people are clicking on it will go down and the watch time will also go down. Here we understand this thing with an example. A YouTuber

[01:41] uploaded a smartphone review video but he mistakenly selected the category Comedy and what was the result? The video has only received 500 views. Whereas she used to drive a lot of videos. And then we changed the category of the same video and the same video

[01:53] easily crossed 10,000 views in a short time. So remember this simple rule, choose the right category for the right video so that the video reaches the right people. And if you ever face any problem in choosing the category , or have a doubt as to

[02:07] which category should I put this video in, then there is a very simple process, a trick by which you can find out the category of any video , catch any YouTube video on that topic which has the maximum views and copy the link of that video and then come to

[02:20] this website and put the link here by copying and pasting that video and here category the video has been put. So you will get the exact category that the viral video is using. It is a small step but it gives a clear signal to YouTube

[02:34] that this video is the best fit for this topic and when YouTube gets this clarity then it pushes your video in front of the right audience and by the way I also push YouTube related videos on this channel every week. So if

[02:47] you want to learn how to make better videos, how to grow them for YouTube subscribe to this channel and also press the bell notification so that you get the first update of upcoming videos. Now the next few mistakes

[03:01] start from the same place and that place is metadata. This is the part that tells both YouTube and Google what topic your video is about, and if you ignore metadata, your video will never rank.

[03:13] Look, metadata in simple words is your title, your three of these help YouTube topic of the video. What do I want to convey and to whom? A lot matters in these things.

[03:29] Now what is the mistake? People upload videos without optimizing the title, description, and tags, and what is the result? YouTube does not understand the topic for which the video is made and it starts showing that video to random people.

[03:41] Remember one simple trick, before uploading the video here, your topic is for example how to make money with YouTube then name the file How to make money with YouTube. Now further it became dot mp4. Ok? This keyword will

[03:54] become your metadata title. Then you have to enter the same keyword in the description of your video also. You have to write naturally and also add five to ten relevant tags Make Money with YouTube, Make Money with YouTube. So you need these things in all three places

[04:07] three of these together send a strong signal to YouTube that this video is YouTube gets this clarity, the chances of your video ranking increase threefold. For example, if you simply go to Google and search How to

[04:22] Start a Blog Channel, then you will see this video of mine there on Google search. It will appear at the top. I uploaded this video just a few months ago. Even after that, this video got ranked at the top so quickly. Why did it rank? Because

[04:35] I pay a lot of attention to meta data and if you too are going to pay serious about following this step then comment below, let us see how many people are serious about meta data and are going to optimize it in the right way. Now,

[04:50] optimize it in the right way. Now, you might not have even paid attention to this mistake which I am going to tell you about. But it does harm to every Uber. Chapters. Look, chapters or time stamps do

[05:06] an SEO signal for both YouTube and Google. Now let me explain the proof to you further. someone searches on Google. Searches anything. You might have searched it too. You looking for its solution. Ok? Sometimes you

[05:20] see YouTube videos on top to find the solution. If you click on them, the video directly you will get the answer for which you had typed and searched on Google. This is the power of chapters. This makes the viewing experience of the viewer even better.

[05:34] And at the same time, it also takes videos from Google and takes them to your video. viewer will reach the solution point exactly at that point. But the problem arises here when you

[05:49] YouTube will not add many time stamps in auto generated chapters. And even if he enters it, he will enter wrong time stamps which will not benefit us. And what will be the result of this? Google will not get the correct data of the video chapters and

[06:01] your video will not rank at all the places where it could have ranked and got views from all the places from where it could have done so, you will lose all those views. And there is a very simple solution to this. Write your chapters manually. If the video is long or it is some knowledgeable video, how to

[06:13] video then definitely write chapters. And always start from ground zero. Each chapter should be at least 10 seconds long. And most importantly, write SEO friendly chapter names also. Like I have put SEO friendly chapters in this video. Even

[06:25] But in this video I am also covering a lot of small things. description is done. Apart from this I am covering a lot of things. Whatever I ca put inside my time stamp. And it will help in understanding Google.

[06:39] Tomorrow if someone searches on Google then I have to send him directly to this point in this video. And another bonus tip, putting questions on the name of the chapter is the most write the same thing while searching on Google. Like what are YouTube upload mistakes. This is a small

[06:52] hack that will literally push your video to the first page of Google. And one thing you can push right now. My motivation. Just hit that subscribe button below. I keep bringing such videos. Videos keep coming every week.

[07:05] subscribe to the channel. Now this mistake may seem a bit boring to you. But this mistake literally destroys the international reach of your video. Not uploading subtitles and SRT files. Look, there are more than 1.45 billion people on YouTube

[07:21] whose primary language is English. Those who do not know Hindi and understand only English. And if I show you, out of the 1.5 million views that I have received on this channel in the last 28 days, 10% of them had English subtitles on. That means 1.5 lakh

[07:35] people were watching my videos with English subtitles. we will get views from them and at the same time our earnings from them will also increase. And yes, it is not limited to just subtitles. You can also translate your title and description.

[07:51] So imagine a single video getting views from 20 different countries and that too without being recorded in that language. So next time you upload a video, try taking some time to write English subtitles. You

[08:03] can also take help of Chat GPT or if you can spend a little , can spend money, then you can also hire someone on freelancing for this work. And you will easily get double the money you invest. But you probably won't find this channel easily.

[08:17] So if you are new then subscribe today. It you have reached this video, reached here, are watching the video till here then so that you keep getting such videos. Now the next mistake is a bit controversial

[08:31] because YouTube itself says that tags have no impact. But to tell you the truth, that is half the truth. Look, YouTube tags are no longer as powerful as they once were. But this does not mean that they have no work. Tags still provide a lot of data about the video, both on YouTube and on Google, about

[08:44] Tags still provide a lot of data about the video, both on YouTube and on Google, about topic the video is about. Tags also make a difference, otherwise why would that feature exist? Now the problem here is that many beginners write #hashtagfunny, #viral

[08:57] write very broad things in the tag section and think that their work is done. But if your tags and videos are mismatched, YouTube will get confused and your video may reach the wrong audience. I have to remain foolproof, for which

[09:11] I personally follow a trick. Before writing tags, do keyword research with Vid IQ or Tube Buddy. It easily shows me which keywords are getting more searches. Which one has higher searches and lower competition.

[09:23] And then I put the same tags inside the video in the tags section. can use the auto complete feature of YouTube where you enter some text in the beginning and then it can auto suggest further. And if you don't

[09:35] want to do that, you can also copy and paste. Install Vik extension and turn it on, watch related videos, you will see the extensions of any video there and you can copy the tags of that video. You of any video there and you can copy the tags of that video. You

[09:48] in your video. Now after hearing the next mistake you will think that this is a small setting but to tell you the truth, this small setting can completely destroy the reach of your video. I'm talking about the Made for Kids option. Look, when you upload a video,

[10:00] YouTube asks you this thing whether this video is for children or not? Some people say yes without thinking that yes it is made for kids or they leave that thing blank. And this is where the real problem begins. Because

[10:12] once you enable Made for Kids, your video will be visible only to children. Only to children and no one else. Meaning your video will not be recommended to normal people. The comment section and even notifications will not work. Will not be

[10:26] visible. And if you leave it blank, YouTube will reduce the reach of that video to be on the safe side. There was a YouTuber whose videos were initially getting 20-30 views easily. Then one day he accidentally posted a video made for kids and after that the

[10:38] visibility of his entire channel dropped a bit. So remember this simple rule. If your content is for educational tutorial or general audience then select 'No it's not made for kids', that's all and yes do n't do the reverse also, if your content is really for

[10:51] children then only enable 'Made for Kids' otherwise YouTube will think that you are misleading, sometimes you are posting on this and sometimes on that, it is a small option but it is a very important thing for YouTube. Now the next mistake seems simple but it

[11:04] engagement. Look, signal for YouTube. The more people there are interacting, talking, commenting, the more YouTube thinks the video is engaging. But

[11:16] if you publish a video and the comment section looks completely empty, then YouTube will also think that maybe this video has zero engagement. It is possible that video may be bad and even new viewers will think that

[11:29] perhaps this video is not that interesting. And they scroll away because no n't see even a single comment. So what can you do to bring about this early engagement ? It is a simple method. As soon as you publish the video, immediately leave a comment.

[11:41] Ok? Even if it is a simple line like how did you like the video? Tell us in the comments asked in the video. What this does is that you activate the comment section in a way. People start engaging there again.

[11:54] And YouTube gets a clear signal. People Are Interactive. And when YouTube gets this signal, it pushes your video to more people. So next time you upload a video, don't forget to pin and comment. And in this video also

[12:07] I am putting a pind comment below. So please do check it out and reply as well. I will wait for your reply. Now the next mistake is the one which happens mostly in excitement. It happens most of the time and I know you too must have made this mistake at some point or the other.

[12:20] You finally edited your video. Exported it and immediately uploaded the video to YouTube and published it. But you know this small hurry that you have shown can completely spoil the first impression of your video.

[12:33] Look, when you upload a YouTube video, YouTube processes it in different resolutions. Its 360p, 720p, 1080p, 4K, everything is processed and it takes some time. Sometimes it takes one or two hours , sometimes maximum 6 hours, 4 hours,

[12:46] it all depends on the size of the video. Now if you publish it immediately then the viewer will get a low quality unprocessed version which you have uploaded, blurry pixelated and absolutely boring to watch and as soon as the first 100-200

[12:59] people click on that video and watch it, they will leave the video, the quality is not that good and then people will not like the video, what will definitely be the result, the algorithm will reduce the reach, so what is its simple solution, as soon as you upload the video, schedule it for at

[13:11] least after 3 to 6 hours and I personally do this thing, after 24 to 48 I upload it in advance. Now the next mistake is made by those YouTubers whose channel gets monetized. But after monetization, they make one biggest

[13:24] mistake. Leave ad breaks on auto. Watch YouTube automatically insert ads. But that logic is of the algorithm. Not yours. The algorithm does n't care if the ads are coming during an emotional part of your video.

[13:39] important point, your video is being cut. What is the result? The viewer gets irritated and leaves the video and because of this, sudden point in our retention graph. A drop is seen and

[13:53] signal here. Viewers are dropping videos. The content is weak. I had a video that was over 10 minutes long. I had enabled automatic ads on it and YouTube put an ad at a point , at the midpoint, when I was saying the main point of my video. And

[14:06] then at that very point many people stopped the video. Skip watching the ad and retention drops straight down. Just because of an ad. So the simple solution to this is whenever the monetization of the video is on and the video is more than 8 minutes long then manually

[14:20] Go to the Monetization tab inside the video. Click on Manage Ad Slots and there you can decide where to place ads and where not to place ads. Long term money on YouTube is not made only from ads but from retention. So if the viewer

[14:35] watches the entire video, YouTube pushes our videos more and then in the long run our overall channel revenue increases because all the videos are option only if you do n't have time to manually add them or if you

[14:48] feel that it won't matter if an ad appears anywhere in the video. Now this next mistake is small but causes harm. Especially on video views. Look, one of the most important metrics for YouTube is watch session time. Meaning how long a viewer stays on YouTube

[15:01] session time. Meaning how long a viewer stays on YouTube ends, the viewer watches your second video as well and spends more and more time on the platform, then YouTube understands that this Uber, who is our

[15:13] creator, can hold people on our platform and then it and then it and here the playlist option works very well because if

[15:26] you add the video to a playlist or make the videos in a series, then the then watch the second video of the playlist series, then watch the third video and watch the fourth you will get maximum watch time session, views, revenue and overall

[15:40] not add the playlist then the chances of the viewer's journey stopping there increases a lot. Watch one video and it's over. So the simple thing is, whenever you upload a video, forget to write the description of the playlist because it shows up in the search for YouTube TV users.

[15:54] play it smarter, treat the playlist like a mini series. If I talk about this playlist, this playlist is How to Start Blogging. In this all the videos are One video will end, another video will start. One video after another.

[16:10] This is a small habit but its benefits are big. Another habit that is very beneficial is my habit of watching videos. So if you want such YouTube related videos which will benefit you, then subscribe to the channel and press the bell notification so that

[16:22] you can be the first to benefit from the upcoming videos. So now you must have known what mistakes we should avoid on YouTube and how to do them. But now the next step is to make such a video that people do not skip it but watch the entire video because just

[16:35] uploading it correctly will not give growth. Real growth comes from creating a killer video. That's why I made this dedicated video. How to Make a Killer YouTube Video. you can make your next video not just good but also addictive. So

[16:49] click now and make your next video killer.

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